


Four Seasons

by unlockthelore



Series: Affections Touching Across Time [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Friendships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gen, Growing Up, Introspection, Post-Canon, Snippets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24536707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unlockthelore/pseuds/unlockthelore
Summary: Though their meetings were often fleeting, there were ways for their hearts to connect and be part of one another’s lives.Recent Update3. An Unexpected Ambition -When the option arises, Rin decides the best route to protecting herself is one that suits her best.
Relationships: Jaken & Rin (InuYasha), Kaede & Rin (InuYasha), Rin/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)
Series: Affections Touching Across Time [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713493
Comments: 22
Kudos: 52





	1. Blank Page

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin knew the end before it arrived, recognizing it in quiet that she knew well, and resigning herself to what may come.

**Blank Page**

After years of silence, Rin grew to despise and understand the meaning of quiet. An absence of sound wasn’t purposeless. There was more to be found in fleeting glances, muted offerings, and soundless acts than words could convey. Her exile in her own village was brought upon by speechlessness wrought in fear. In meeting Lord Sesshomaru, she said nothing while his silence and the occasional clipped phrase spoke volumes. 

To Rin, he was wounded. Perhaps as much inside as he was out. 

Yet still, he asked her where her wounds had come from, even with the grievous ones he sported healing day after day. It amazed her how someone could convey so much yet did so with as little words as possible. With her life returned, she found it in herself to talk — sing, laugh, weep, argue, and live. 

Watching others and their actions as much as she listened to their words, absorbing and compartmentalizing, then moving on with one step in front of the other. Separating intentions from prejudices took time and patience. Nevertheless, while Rin shied from humans, she knew one day she would have to face them.

And she was aware when that day had finally come. 

Crickets chirped in the tall grass, firewood crackling and burning with a thin plume of smoke trailing off into the star-studded sky. Rin sat in the dirt with her back supported by A-Un, curled around her with their heads resting upon their front paws and ears pricking at every sound. With the insects singing, the firewood burning, and Jaken’s hushed murmuring, the sounds of the village oft in the distance drew Rin’s attention and she glanced toward the smattering of huts past the rice paddy fields glistening silver in the moonlight. Her eyes softened as she allowed her gaze to wander along bobbing amber lights and the silhouettes of humans nearly indistinguishable aside from their sizes. 

Children, as Jaken had pointed out so graciously a half hour ago, lived in the village in droves. If she tired of waiting then perhaps she should bother one of them instead of him, he quipped, but it was his eyes that confused her the most. And he hadn’t looked at her since. Taking to mumbling and pacing about the patches of grass around their campfire, worrying his staff between his hands and sparing the occasional bemoaning glance toward the village.

A-Un huffed irritably, the fur at the end of their tail fluffing out. A warning Jaken either ignored or hadn’t noticed over his fretting. When the two-headed dragon opened one eye, their steady breathing interrupted by a low rumbling growl, Rin laid her hand on their side with a soft pat. A-Un snorted and shut their eye, relaxing once more as another chill breeze swept past them. Whistling through the grass and rustling her hair, a light shudder eased as A-Un’s tail rested lightly in her lap. Their heated scales warming through the fabric of her kosode and welcomed as she snuggled beneath, patting them gently. 

Curious and concerned Jaken would worry himself into a hole, Rin’s lips twitched downward into a frown. “You seem nervous, Master Jaken,” she said softly. 

“N-Nervous?!” Jaken stuttered, eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as he twitched upright and puffed out his chest, stamping the end of his staff into the dirt. “What would _I_ have to be nervous over?”

Though he held his head high, Rin could see the creases in his brow and sweat forming along his crown. Her brows knitted in concern and a quiet snort from aside drew her attention to A-Un. The two-headed dragon looked on at Jaken’s posturing with half-lidded eyes flicking toward Rin. 

She spared them a smile and shrugged half-heartedly. “That’s what I would want to know,” Rin said, ignoring Jaken’s visible flinch and quick glance toward the village. Worry had already made its home within her stomach. Something cold easing up from the soles of her feet that not even the fire or A-Un’s scales could soothe. 

“Did Lord Sesshomaru have something important to talk to Lady Kaede about?”

It was part of why they were in the field, of that she was sure. The daiyōkai bid Jaken to find firewood before leaving without a word, walking along the dirt trodden paths intersecting between the rice paddy fields. Their waters almost seemed ablaze, drenched in scarlet reds reflecting the cloudless sky. His white hair almost silver in the afternoon sunbeams, haloed in a dull sanguine. Villagers tending to the fields stopping to watch him as he passed, murmuring to themselves with quiet glances toward the short grassy hill where they made their camp. When Jaken returned, Rin half-expected him to lord over how the humans shouldn’t have even deigned to spare their lord a glance. 

Yet he said nothing. 

Only telling Rin to settle by A-Un while he prepared the fire then ushering her close to it. He was quiet. Far too quiet. Tending to her requests of being hungry without question, little grumbling aside from the murmuring and off glances toward the village.

Afternoon faded. Dusk falling over them in muted worries and half-spoken realizations. 

Rin waited for him to tell her it was none of her business. To sit patiently and wait for their lord to return so they could leave. And yet, Jaken did neither. Staring pointedly at the dirt between his pointed toes as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, an almost white-knuckled grip on his staff. Rin opened her mouth but the words were choked out of her as A-Un’s tail wound itself around her waist, warm scales doing little to ease the dreaded chill settling over her shoulders. 

She wasn’t sure when she’d fallen asleep but a gentle nudge to her shoulder roused her slowly. Rubbing her hands at the corners of her eyes, she sniffled and stared blearily at her toes. Only allowing her gaze to shift upward when she noticed Jaken nursing a lump on his head and a rock about the size of her fist sitting nearby. Which had to have meant —

Looking up, her eyes widened. 

“M’lord,” Rin chirped, dragging herself up to her feet after shuffling from beneath A-Un’s tail. “Welcome back!”

For a moment, he said nothing but his golden eyes were sharp with an unspoken emotion that untwisted the knots in her stomach. He stared at her for a moment longer then looked ahead, stepping past A-Un’s tail without looking down and wandering through the tall grass. Jaken picking himself up off the dirt as their lord passed by and quickly bowing his head til his forehead touched the dirt. Turning away from A-Un with a light pat, Rin hopped over their tail and padded over to Jaken, crouching down to touch the lump lightly.

Jaken groaned lightly, then confusedly, looking up with a eyes a touch watery than usual. “Rin?”

With a soft smile, Rin cradled the back of his head and patted gently. “It’s alright, Master Jaken.” Despite his sputtering, she knew that she shouldn’t keep Lord Sesshomaru waiting and trailed after him with her hands clasped behind her back and toes digging into the soil with each step. Their campfire was a smudge on the horizon by the time he slowed to a stop, and Rin spared a glance back, feeling much like Jaken had. 

Nervous and unsure, but accepting of _something_. 

As Rin was lead into a wooded dell, carved out between thickets of trees and lit by moonbeams misting over the grass, she noticed Lord Sesshomaru almost seemed ethereal. A far cry from the injured being she’d seen almost a few months ago. His eyes were trained on something in the distance and though the night was nothing short of peaceful, he seemed almost upset or perhaps resigned. Rin shuffled forward and peered up at him curiously before trotting ahead, spinning on her heel to face him. A brief miscalculation of how quickly she moved almost making her topple backward til she wheeled her arms to remain upright. Sparing a glance up at him to see if he caught her blunder, the faintest upward twitch of his lips made her eyes widen but it was gone almost as quickly as it came. 

His eyes narrowed then slipped shut, and her hands twisted into fists. “It is best for you to learn how to live among humans, Rin.”

Canting her head to one side, now confused, Rin asked. “Why?” She lived a great deal of her life away from humans or shunned by them. While it might have been lonely, she was certainly better off in her own opinion. And coming from him with his own prejudices seemed strange. “ _You_ don’t speak to humans often, aside from the ones who’re friends with Inuyasha, Kohaku, and me.”

As she ticked off the names on her fingers, Lord Sesshomaru huffed. “There are reasons for that. _You_ , however, are different than I.” 

Rin almost flinched. 

_He is not someone a human child should follow._

The air was scalding and humid that night, her heart beating wildly as she listened to the monk speak. His raspy voice begging her to turn back. Hand, cold and clammy, as it grasped her own until she yanked herself free. Lord Sesshomaru’s visage was growing distant and though she called for him to wait for her, her feet were rooted to the ground despite the soil and foliage being burnt away. 

_Humans and demons live in different worlds. You know I’m right._

He’d spoken those words with such conviction. Her lips trembling as she recalled Jaken’s snide remark.

_By the time the lord’s empire is created, you’ll be long gone._

She was aware. Aware that they were different from her. One day, if she was lucky, she would grow old and die peacefully. Hopefully amidst a field of flowers. And time wouldn’t have touched them at all. She knew it from their silence and the way they looked after her, but she’d been happy and secure with her place in their lives and her own. Far too happy to confront the end prematurely. Now that it stared her in the face.

Now that she looked up to him, and saw the end in his silence.

She realized what Jaken’s murmuring and A-Un’s closeness was. 

A farewell. 

Whether Lord Sesshomaru was giving her a chance to allow his words to sink in or collecting his thoughts alluded Rin entirely, his voice steady and calm as he looked down to her. “This isn’t only for you to learn how to live among humans,” he said, and Rin blinked up at him, puzzled. “It is a chance for humanity to regain your trust.”

She almost wanted to laugh. Was that even possible? But a myriad of a faces flitted across her mind: the priestess Kagome, Kohaku, his older sister Sango, the monk Miroku, and Lady Kaede. Her skepticism cracked, hairline fractures joining together to whittle away at the resolve she’d had to never be one of another human village. 

“Will you come back?” Rin asked quietly, the sounds of the forest drowning out her voice to her own ears.

“Do not expect me frequently…” Her head twitched upward at that, both surprised that he’d heard her and poised with a snappish quip on her tongue. His eyes narrowed at her and she clamped her mouth shut. “But I will return.”

Relief stayed her tongue and scathing remarks, balled fists falling open. “And you won’t forget me?”

As minuscule as his reactions were in their differences, he almost seemed offended at that. One brow raising about a millimeter from its usual place. “Do you doubt my memory?” He asked loftily. “Or your place in it.”

Rin blinked owlishly, her hands clasped behind her as she rocked back on her heels, grinning widely. “Never.”

When they returned to the campsite, Rin was unsurprised to see the slightly hunched figure of the greying priestess Kaede standing aside the fire. Jaken delegated moving A-Un over to a nearby tree and perked up at the sight of them. As Rin approached with Lord Sesshomaru at her side, Kaede looked from the daiyōkai to her with a small smile and a curt nod. Rin glancing up to Lord Sesshomaru before taking a step forward, halting when she noticed Jaken shuffling forward with his hands tucked in his sleeves, staff clunking against the dirt.

“P-Pardon, m’lord…”

Lord Sesshomaru glanced at him from the corner of his eye and Jaken bowed his head lower. 

“If I may…” Jaken started, and Rin could practically see the beginnings of a long-winded speech churning in his mind. She held out her hand to him with a little smile and Jaken startled, sparing a glance up to Lord Sesshomaru before stepping closer, brushing aside her hand. Without a word, the daiyōkai treaded through the grass toward A-Un and sat down. The fire’s embers burning low, casting shadows over his face and with his eyes closed, Rin spared him a smile then nudged Jaken into walking as they followed Kaede.

No words were spoken and Rin didn’t mind it. Admiring the flooded fields, smoothed boulders along their banks and the height of the huts they passed by, she wondered how different it was from the village she’d come from. Few humans were walking about but the ones who were looked to them with surprise and slight contempt. Rin’s hand finding Jaken’s sleeve and clutching it tightly, and to her surprise, the imp didn’t shrug her off or bat her away. 

When they reached what Rin assumed was Kaede’s hut, the old priestess gave them a backward glance then nodded, stepping inside. A savory scent of cooked meat and dried herbs wafting from inside and Rin’s stomach groaned.

“You’re hungry again?” Jaken huffed, his voice quavering despite the indignant look as he stared down his nose at her. “Honestly, humans are insatiable.”

Rin covered her mouth with the side of her free hand, clutching his sleeve a bit tighter. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that now, will you?”

Jaken’s mouth fell open and no sound came forth. The two of them staring at one another for a long while in the dull glow of light seeping from the crevices of the doorway and the window. 

“You’ll be fine on your own,” Jaken said, though whether that was to reassure her or himself, Rin wasn’t sure. 

She nodded nonetheless. 

“No wandering off, or getting yourself into trouble, if you see something that might harm you then run the other way.”

She let go of his Jaken’s sleeve as his voice began to crack and tears welled up in his bulbous yellow eyes. Her arms wrapping around his trembling shoulders as she hugged him close, resting her cheek against his head. 

“I’ll miss you too, Master Jaken…” Rin muttered, hearing the clatter before the hug was returned tightly. “Be careful so you’re not left behind while Lord Sesshomaru is making his empire.”

“W-Who said I’ll be left behind?! M’lord would never leave his loyal retainer.”

The sleeve of her kosode was damp with his tears and she closed her eyes tightly, staving off the few brimming at the corners of her eyes. Pulling away with her hands on his shoulders, she grinned widely.

“Then you’d better get going, huh? He _might_ change his mind and think _you_ want to stay with humans.”

Jaken squawked her name indignantly and Rin laughed, feeling the pressure welling up no matter how much she tried to blink it away. His quiet laughter joined hers until they were leaning against one another, Nintōjo and their inevitable parting a distant memory. Sniffling and wiping away her tears, Rin stooped down to pick up the staff in both hands.

“Lord Sesshomaru gave this to you, right?” She presented it to him with a little smile. “You shouldn’t leave it lying around…”

He grumbled quietly. The night filled the silence between them and the shade provided by Kaede’s hut allowed the conflict to flit across their faces easily. 

Jaken looked up to her and opened his mouth, starting loudly. “G—” He choked and Rin’s brows twitched upward, wondering why he was making a face as if he were on the verge of death again. “Until —”

A frustrated growl interrupted another failed attempt at _something_ and Jaken stamped his foot into the dirt, crushing a small cluster of wildflowers sprouting in the soil telling of the coming spring. Realization dawned and her chest clenched as she realized what he was trying to do.

Throwing her arms around his shoulders, she hugged him fiercely. “Goodbye, Master Jaken.”

A choked sob and a squeeze to her shoulder was his only response. Together, they stood for a moment longer before she let him go and nudged him toward the path leading toward the outskirts of the village. Watching from the door of Kaede’s hut as his small figure grew tinier and tinier along the horizon. Until she could no longer make out the yellow of his eyes looking back at her and his waving hand matching the pace of her own. The fire they’d made went out and she closed her eyes, wondering if this was how her lord — how _Sesshomaru_ — had felt.

A short while spent in the humid night air and amidst the sounds of the night was broken as the hut’s door slid open. 

“Come inside, Rin,” Kaede called, not quite an order but the concern in her voice was enough to snap Rin to reality. “You’ll catch cold if you linger too long.”

Looking back to her, muscles stiff with how long she’d been standing, Rin nodded. “Yes, Lady Kaede.” 

Concern deepened the older priestess’s wrinkled forehead as she stepped outside, reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulder. Rin side-stepped it, wincing when Kaede’s hand met open air. A look of recognition and understanding in place of anger and upset as Kaede spoke. “Ye may think this as punishment, Rin, but Sesshomaru has only the best of intentions for ye.”

She knew that. Deep down, despite all of the ill will threatening to color this moment in venomous shades of betrayal and abandonment — she knew that. 

“I’m just thinking about how good your stew smells,” Rin sniffed the air with a satisfied sigh, holding out her arms and leaning onto one foot. 

Kaede seemed to understand and nodded. “I’ve heard it tastes better,” she said, ushering Rin inside with a little smile that was almost too knowing for her comfort. “There’ll be more than enough for the two of us.”

With one last glance over her shoulder, Rin smiled demurely then closed the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this all in one go, and I'm still surprised that I actually did it. So to everyone who is waiting for an update to **It Takes A Village** , rejoice because you won't have to wait much longer. This technically takes place before **It Takes A Village** but it's snippets of Rin's life in the village and how she grew up among humans and became the young woman we meet in ITAV. Somehow, writing younger Rin, I realized how sharp she was even as a child and how used to goodbyes and farewells she was.
> 
> Her relationship with Jaken is one of the sweetest for me to write because despite their bickering, they really cared. And Sesshomaru, while still being somewhat of an enigma, did his best with breaking the news. I believe Ungai's words really resonated with Rin because it made her realize that this may end someday but she's happy, so that's all that matters.
> 
> As usual, you guys can find me on Twitter, Tumblr, Tapas, Instagram, and Pillowfort at **unlockthelore**!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.


	2. Path of Possibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While doing her chores, Rin overhears a conversation and discovers the path before her is not set in stone.

**Path of Possibility**

_It has been some time since we parted ways. Don’t worry, my lord, I’ve been well here. Thriving, or so I overhear Lady Kaede say to Inuyasha. I know, eavesdropping isn’t kind but I was curious. Lady Kaede says that I am quite helpful; and there is no shortage of tasks to be done or adventures to have. However, some of the ladies in the village believe I should be raised with a sterner hand. I hear them speak of it, but Lady Kaede’s answer is often the same._

_She’s quite like you in that way, Lord Sesshomaru._

* * *

Rin filled the water troughs slowly. This gave her an opportune viewpoint of the door to Kaede’s hut. A pair of women with their kimono knotted at the thighs and tenugui tied in a bandana around their foreheads walked the dirt path. One sported a child set upon her hip, red-faced from the sun and bawling. While the other was stern-mouthed and practically marching. Her steely-gaze drifting toward the pen where Rin stood. Their eyes met and the woman’s lips seemed to bend further into a terrifyingly miserly scowl. Rin frowned slightly as they strode past the threshold, the door snapping shut behind. 

She lowered the bucket and lifted her arms as the oxen prodded at her back and sides, nudging her aside gently. Accustomed to her scent, they seemed content to see her as one of their own. An expectant ox glanced aside at her. Snout dripping with water and sopping wet when pressed against the curve of Rin’s shoulder, nudging her toward the trough. She giggled and shied away from the nudging. Climbing up onto the ox’s backside then leaping across the fencing, landing firmly on her feet, pins and needles sharply stabbing the soles of her feet and traveling up to her thighs. 

One of the oxen gave a crooning call, and Rin smiled as she waved back. She knew the sight she made with mud caked up to her knees, crouching beneath the wooden planks to pull the empty bucket through the slats. However, she cared little. If she wasn’t on time then she would miss what they were saying. Hushed as conversations with Kaede were, it would be impossible to listen from outside the door or beneath a window without being caught. Rin grunted and gave the bucket one sharp tug, tumbling backward into the grass and mud with a yelp. Her hand slapped over her mouth as she peered toward the windows. When no one came, she hauled up to her feet and went to place the bucket in the shed then crept around the back of the hut. 

She was careful to stray further from the deep mud. If a trail was left then someone would follow her, or worse, recognize where she’d been treading. Afternoon sunlight curved the rooftop of Kaede’s home, orange and gold much like the firelight flickering within from the hearth. Ducking in the mud behind the hut, Rin laid flat on her belly and started to inch into the crawl space. Dirt and grass, damp and clinging, stained the front of her kosode as she pulled herself along and kneaded aside the sodden earth. To keep from drawing suspicion, she had to keep her head low and her shuffling quiet. Peering through the darkness, Rin crept toward a few strips of light side-by-side beneath where a swinging hatch was carved into the floor. 

Often times, when not cooking, Kaede would set something over it or nearby to keep insects and small creatures like lizards or toads from coming in. Now, Rin sniffed the air and bid her stomach not to rumble. Her mouth watered at the tantalizing smoky scent of fish and the crusted freshly baked bread Kaede had her fetch that morning. The rice gruel was likely boiling from the bubbling and gurgling noises, but she couldn’t tell whether it was the pot or the child still weeping.

The child looked to be no older than a few months or so, Rin thought. Which would mean the woman holding him was Nishi. Rin pouted. She and Kaya were always whispering to each other while washing rice outside of Kaya’s home, sneaking glances at people as they passed. Rin supposed it made up for the dull ins and outs of their days. Although, she couldn’t see the appeal in making fun of anyone. Rin brushed aside her hair to free her ear and twitched upright, resting her hand against the warm wooden boards.

“She is too much, Lady Kaede,” one of the women spoke, her shrill voice taut with barely contained outrage. “Why, my Toki never returned home with so many bruises in her life. They were —”

“I’m well aware of what they appeared as, Kaya,” Kaede interrupted patiently, the dull clunk of the ladle swirling around the pot fills the hanging silence. “I tended to Rin’s own and she tended to Toki’s.”

“Lady Kaede, that child can’t be trusted t—” 

Rin bristled at that. Although she’d only been in the village for almost a year, she’d been learning just as well as anyone else. Lady Kaede was kind but she wouldn’t lie about someone’s well-being.

Almost as if reading her mind, Kaede spoke firmly. “If Toki trusts Rin enough to follow her into a fox bear’s den, _and_ help her escape, I believe that is all that matters.”

Shame curled deep in Rin’s stomach at the memory. She’d been excited to adventure after the peculiar beast and while she warned Toki of the dangers, the freckle-faced girl grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Their warier friends decidedly staying behind in case they were in trouble. And trouble, they did find. Wandering into the foxbear’s den and happening upon its sleeping cubs was one thing but when the mother returned, they ran for their lives. Toki wasn’t as skilled with climbing and nearly slipped off the rocks carved out in layered terraces at the back of the den, leading to a small opening big enough for them to squeeze through. 

Rin, while reaching the peak, looked back at her falling friend and the foxbear’s shadow along the cave wall. Toki hadn’t need to call for her for Rin to act. Grabbing a few loose rocks around the opening and chucking them at another end of the cave. The foxbear’s ears pricked, rumbling loud and fearsome as it raced past, paying no mind to the two squirming girls. Rin hauling Toki up by her trembling arms and helping her squeeze through first before following. Their legs were riddled with marks and bruises from crawling through the underbrush, whittling away tree limbs and branches. Toki growing tired and Rin lifting her up on her back, refusing to let her stay alone.

Kaede had been kind enough to let them come inside, no matter how dirty they were but the weight of her gaze only intensified Rin’s guilt. The elderly priestess tended to Rin’s scrapes and bruises but bade her to watch carefully because it was _she_ that would help Toki. Concern at the loss of a friend simmered in Rin’s chest as she walked Toki home but the girl gave her a squeeze to the hand, and bid her to think of an adventure next time that wasn’t too hard. 

A firm hug burying Rin’s nose against Toki’s shoulder until Kaya called and Toki bid Rin to hurry back to avoid her mother’s tirade at her lateness. 

“You wish for Rin and Toki’s friendship to end?” Kaede asked unflinchingly, knotting Rin’s stomach and drawing a sharp gasp from Kaya.

Hurriedly, Kaya said, “Of course not, my lady… It’s only that the girl is undisciplined. Wild…” She trailed off with something akin to regret and the gentle cooing of the child’s mother filled the silence as their cries curdled into whimpering sobs. “Her time with yōkai must have changed something in her, stolen part of her soul, her humanity.”

Rin drew one hand to her chest and curled it in her soiled obi. 

_This is a chance for humanity to regain your trust._

Even _if_ Kaya was right and a part of her humanity was lost in following after yōkai and trailing away, what did it mean to be human? It was humans who took away her family. Not yōkai. She slowly drew up to her knees though she kept her head bowed, toes curled in the springy grass tickling the soles of her feet. But she didn’t feel like laughing. 

“Or perhaps ye both have forgotten what it was to be a child.”

Rin blinked several times. She had never heard Kaede speak with such weary firmness. As if she were tired of the conversation and ready for it to be done with. That tone, not quite haughty but one of grace. It reminded her of Lord Sesshomaru.

“I remember many a night when ye would sneak into the woods with Rikichi.” A soft gasp came from one of the women while the other sucked her teeth. “And when _ye_ would take more than your fair share of the berries from harvest, and blame it on the little ones.”

Clamping her hands to stifle her giggles, Rin smiled. Stealing berries and sneaking off into the woods were things _children_ did. Or so the adults often said. She wished she could have seen their faces.

“Children are bound to mischief. It is in their nature to learn from it and grow.”

“Be that as it may, she can’t behave like this forever, m’lady.”

Kaede hummed curiously and Rin tipped her head to one side.

“One day, she will need marry and she knows little of housework or cooking o—”

“Is this concern, envy, or jealousy parting your lips, Kaya?” Kaede snapped, cutting the thread of thought before another word could part Kaya’s lips. A dull thud of the ladle set aside and Rin could imagine Kaede, poised with nary an expression on her face to be seen, her one good-eye gleaming in the firelight. “I believe that is enough for today. It will be supper soon and I have need of Rin before we eat. If ye wish not to lay eyes on her, best ye leave now.”

“Lady Kaede—” 

From the abrupt pause, Kaede must have dismissed them out of hand and within moments, shuffling footsteps and curt farewells preluded the door sliding open then shutting firmly with a rattle on its hinges. Silence rippled confusion, hurt, and determination in waves of cold and warmth. Rin peered over her shoulder and started to shuffle backward. If dinner was to be soon, she’d need to clean up and try to make sense of the jolting unease beneath her skin.

“I know ye are there, Rin.” Her eyes shot open, concentrating on the slits between the wood as a shadow approached, blotting out the light. “This was my home when I was yet a girl and I listened to a great many of my sister’s troubles from where you are.” Particles of dust drifted downward as the hatch opened, a tanned wrinkled hand slipping through, fingers extended. “Come out now.”

Rin hesitated for a second. But was there any reason to when Kaede knew? Shutting her mouth which had dropped open in amazement, she reached out and cupped her fingers around Kaede’s own, letting the elderly priestess hoist her through the hatch. A quick flick of the eye across her front, likely taking in the mess of her soiled kosode, but when their eyes met there was only satisfaction. 

“Ye heard everything,” Kaede stated plainly, lacking judgement but the weight of knowledge rested heavily on Rin’s bowed head.

Slowly, she raised her eyes to Kaede’s. “Must I marry when I am older, Lady Kaede?”

Concern and understanding glinted in the priestess’ good-eye. “Nay, child,” she said.

Rin stared, shocked frozen. “But Kaya said…” She blurted out, and Kaede raised a hand to quiet her. 

“She said what she did because she is none the wiser of what ye are.” Kaede pressed her hands to her knees, rising with creaking and crackling joints, her hands set behind her sloping back. “A child who succumbed to death twice over, trailed at the heels of a daiyōkai, wandered from one coast of this land to the other in search of Naraku, aided a band of heroes, and now seeks to live amongst humans until destiny calls once more.”

Rin scrambled out of the hatch and fit the wooden covering over it again, rapt with attention as she hurried to Kaede’s side while the elder priestess shuffled back to the boiling gruel. 

“What Kaya spoke of is a life of a girl born and raised in a village where she hopes to thrive hand-in-hand with a husband, or in some instances, a life partner.” Rin hurried to grab one of the squared cushions set off to the side and put it beneath where the priestess sat. Kaede curtly nodding to her then settling down with a hummed groan. Once she was comfortable, she looked up to Rin. “I will raise ye as best I can but ye will choose what path ye wish to tread.”

Rin smiled and swung her hands at her side. Something akin to fondness swelling in her chest as she watched the elder priestess stir the gruel in the cooking pot. It smelled so good, but Kaede’s faith in her was even better. So similar it was to someone else that Rin was struck by nostalgia.

“You know, Lady Kaede, the way you spoke to Kaya reminded me of Lord Sesshomaru.”

 _Tok._ The ladle clattered against the inside of the pot. Kaede glanced down at her grizzled hands then to Rin, brows raised in surprise. “Is that so?” 

Rin nodded.

“How troubling,” Kaede chuckled, slipping her hand to the pot to grab the ladle’s shaft and begin stirring again.

“Troubling?”

Kaede nodded. “Sesshomaru can be quite intimidating.”

Rin pressed her lips in a thin line. She’d seen him bare his claws, and in the heat of battle, most often not to protect them. Then again, Jaken always paled when the daiyōkai glanced over his shoulder. And there were some who paused and immediately threw themselves out of his path or at his feet. But he was nothing but kind to her if not a bit aloof. 

“Mm, sometimes.” Rin admitted, swinging her arms in an arc as she spun on her heel. “But he’s very kind when he wants to be.”

Kaede seemed amused by her spinning though she set the cover on the pot. “Ye do not fear him?”

“No,” Rin laughed, finding the question as silly as it was easy to answer. “Lord Sesshomaru is my friend. Just like _you_ , Lady Kaede.”

When Rin spun again, she found Kaede looking at her with a tenderness that made her insides feel like mush. She’d seen _that_ look before. A mask of calm, while affection was set in the eyes. Gone before Rin could think on it further.

“I’m honored,” Kaede said to her. “Now, go on. There’s still light and _ye_ need a bath. Dinner can wait.”

Rin blinked slowly then looked down. Bits of grass were burning in the hearth along with dirt. Spots on her kosode now freed must have flung into the flames and she smiled sheepishly, waving before running off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I’m at it again. I decided to revisit ATAT’s verse because there are so many stories that I want to get out of my head and they all revolve around actually finishing. So here I am! And this is the first of a few snippets originally dubbed as **Paper Tethers**. As you might’ve guessed, there are letters to Sesshomaru with moments of Rin’s life outlining what happened or at least close enough to see. I’m not sure what to talk about first. 
> 
> Rin’s new friend, Toki, and the others? Her mother, Kaya. The headman’s wife, Nishi.
> 
> They’re all characters who will be expanded on in other works or in this one but so far — Rin has almost been in Kaede’s village for a year, and they’re significantly closer than they were in Blank Page. Close enough that she can talk about Sesshomaru unflinchingly. In mind, she started to refer to him without his title but it’s practically a habit to refer to him as such verbally. 
> 
> Either way, I’m excited to get back into exploring Rin as she grows up and starts to learn many of the skills that she displays in It Takes A Village and later on in ATAT’s verse. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has been so patient with me and is continuing to follow along. I hope the path this takes us on will be an eventful and rewarding one.
> 
> As usual, you can find me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pillowfort at **unlockthelore**. For updates on my work and status, check me out on Twitter. For my original content, find me on Tapas where I’m currently writing the novel, **Legend of the Four Elemental Heroes**. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. An Unexpected Ambition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the option arises, Rin decides the best route to protecting herself is one that suits her best.

**An Unexpected Ambition**

_While it may sound strange I learned that fighting is more than muscles and ki - to fight for someone with all of your heart - even if you know you might lose, it takes strength._

_Inner strength that many don’t have._

_You won’t say it, so I won’t either, but I’m glad that you’ve grown so strong._

_Keep fighting with all your heart for whoever you want to protect, so you’ll grow even stronger, and be the greatest daiyōkai of our age._

_I believe in you, Lord Sesshomaru._

* * *

  


The next morning, Rin awoke to the distant exchange of quiet and gruff murmurings.

For a short while, she shuddered and wriggled beneath her comforter, attempting to slip back into a pocket of sleep. Thick waxy thoughts refused to settle in one form as voices churned them about into different shapes and figures.

“When I was that size, I’d’ve given anything for someone to teach me how to throw a decent punch,” a deep voice said, thinned with exasperation and gruff in its speech. Rin could imagine the furrow in its owner’s brow, and his irritable scowl. “ ‘Sides, world we live in isn’t all that safe, y’know. There were dangers _before_ Naraku, and one of these days, she’s gonna have to face ‘em on her own.”

The voice’s owner spat ‘Naraku’ as if it were a mouthful of poison. Rin’s brow quivered and she pressed her lips together to stifle a whimper, trying to banish the thought of creeping spiders and soulless red eyes. 

“… Ye have made yer point, Inuyasha,” another voice, wizened and haggard in exhaustion. It was a tone Rin knew well. Seconds away from a chiding remark. “Just know that if any harm should come to Rin —”

A harsh snort interrupted the reprimand. “Yeah, yeah, you don’t have t’ remind me,” Inuyasha scoffed. “If anythin’ happens to her, _he_ is gonna throw a fit.”

He? Rin’s quivering slowed as the image of a silver-haired figure painted across the back of her eyelids, his silhouette illuminated by the moon. He was the one who stood between her and certain death time and again with naught but a blade in hand even when he possessed only one. 

“I was going to say ye will have to deal with me,” the second voice filled the void’s silence and echoed but the daiyōkai seemed to pay it little mind.

_Sesshomaru-sama?_

“She sleeps in my home, we eat meals together, and she has quite the voice for singing and storytelling…”

In her mind’s eye, he furtively glanced over his shoulder, sparing only a sliver of golden eyes away from the unseen foe before him. His eyes, brighter than the sun, were alight with an emotion she couldn’t put to name. What was he waiting for? 

“Did ye think me so cold-hearted not to care for her in more than body and obligation, Inuyasha?”

Nothing was said but the unease Rin felt slowly crumbled away. 

_It’s nothing, m’lord. I’m fine._

Kaede would look after her just as he trusted she would not so long ago. Sesshomaru stared at her for a moment longer then turned forward. His sword flourished, its blade catching the moonlight with an unearthly silver-green tinge. The markings along its edge luminescent with a green glow as he sheathed it then walked on into the light.

Rin held out her hand, fingers outstretched but she could barely see past them as the fog wrapped around him - obscuring his image in a silhouette. 

“Keh, I know that. You took in Kagome when she first got here.”

“She told ye about that?”

“Said you were the first person to treat her kindly, even if you were a stubborn old hag.”

“I believe you embellish.”

“Yeah, Kagome wouldn’t call you a hag. She’d probably sit me right now if she heard me say it.”

Giving up with a huff, Rin groggily shuffled upright and rubbed the grit from her eyes, blinking away sleep’s veil. Past the window’s slats, the clouded blue-black sky wouldn’t allow even the moon’s outline to be seen. In lieu of its luminescence, weak firelight spilled past the noren and coaxed shadows to the room’s far corners. 

“She will return, Inuyasha,” Kaede intoned softly, and Rin could imagine her peering across the flames. Forehead creased deeply in concentration and eye gleaming in the copper flames. “May ye not forget how to live the life that she helped to forge with ye.”

Rin squeezed the fluff of her comforter’s lining between her fingers, swaying precariously as she tried to wake. She glanced aside and pouted at Kaede’s folded bedding, shuffling to the edge of her futon to touch her comforter’s corner. 

It still felt warm and fluffed.

Had she gotten out of bed recently?

Concern for the elder priestess arose as Rin glanced toward the doorway. Nightmares plagued them both; though Kaede claimed her own were nothing more than smoldering cinders, while Rin’s were still-burning flames. Time is what the elder priestess attributed to her current state of mind, and it is what she told Rin to give to ease her own burdens. 

However, Rin learned that the saying that time couldn’t heal all wounds was quite true.

When Kaede awoke gasping for breath and shuddering in the darkness, Rin pretended to stay asleep to avoid embarrassing or upsetting her. Her mother’s words echoed in her ears - to cry as a woman was a sign of weakness that not many could afford. 

Rin understood it though she didn’t agree. Kaede was one of the strongest women she knew. If she needed to cry then perhaps it was her wounds that needed tending. 

On one such night, when Rin heard Kaede’s sobs, she crawled from beneath her comforter and refused to leave the priestess’ side until she found sleep again. Rin couldn’t rid herself of the memory. Kaede’s hand, large and rough with callouses based on the palm of wrinkled fingers, engulfed Rin’s outstretched hand with trembling might. Tears sprung to Rin’s eyes and she fit her fingers in the crook of the priestess’ thumb, clasping tight til Kaede’s trembling ceased. 

They hadn’t spoken of that night since, but when tears were to fall whether her own or Kaede’s, the other remained until sleep could be found. 

It was one of the few times that Rin disagreed with the ghost of her mother. Crying wasn't a weakness. Kaede wasn’t weak to shed tears. She was holding onto her strength by alleviating the pressure in her heart. 

And for that reason, she would always be strong. 

“I know that,” Inuyasha murmured after a long moment and his voice was so soft that Rin barely caught it. Were his ears pressed against his head? Did he look down with guilt for doubting Kagome? Or did he just miss her and couldn’t look elsewhere.

Rin’s heart ached for him. She could recall a time where she had felt much the same. Bitterness toward the ones she felt abandoned her but knowing their intentions were in her best interest. Still, all she wanted was to be with them. Her hands trembled as she grasped her comforter’s edge. Was that how Inuyasha felt? 

When the thought crossed her mind, no matter how much she tried to remind herself that their intentions were good, pressure built behind her eyes. Tears vying for a place in the world slipped past her closed eyelids, and her best efforts to wipe them away were futile. It wasn’t hate she felt, or abandonment. They were there but it wasn’t that which squeezed her chest.

It was a feeling she couldn’t put to name. 

The noren was pushed to one side and Rin squeaked, her hands flying up to her chest as light poured into the room. Backlit by its glow was not the silver-haired figure who tread into the fog but another donned in red, a pair of ears twitched atop his head while his eyes narrowed at her. 

“Kaede didn’t mention you were an eavesdropper,” he grumbled, brushing the noren aside with the back of his hand. His scowl and the wrinkle between his brows eased when he crouched beside her, letting it fall behind him. In the dim light, his eyes glowed and Rin’s heart hammered as her mind unwittingly summoned the image of eyes following her in the forest’s brushwood.

“Hey,” Inuyasha said softly and Rin hadn’t realized how far she’d gotten from him to where she was almost falling off one end of her futon. His look of annoyance had shifted into one of concern, hurt reflected in his eyes as he reached out then hesitated, turning his hand palm-up. “Are you alright?”

Rin blinked slowly, inclining her head. What did he mean by that?

Inuyasha pulled back his hand and gestured to his cheek, tapping a claw beneath one eye.

Her own widened and she reached up to wipe at her eyes, startled when moisture came away on the back of her fingers. Wiping at her eyes furiously, she sniffled, “I’m okay…” and nodded. 

When Rin’s hands fell away from her eyes, Inuyasha’s look of concern had been replaced with skepticism. It was strange. Golden eyes, emotional and alight. They were brothers if Master Jaken was to be believed but they were different down to their core. She’d never seen her lord show this much obvious concern for her.

Rin lowered her head and wiped at her eyes again then scrambled up to her feet. Her mind was laden with memory. Her lord’s impeccable countenance presented to her with his back often left for her viewing. Jaken had professed knowing of his moods but he was often rebuked with fierce knocks to the head. Rin trembled at the reverberation of Jaken’s squawks and her lord’s lengthening strides. 

On this night too, she missed them dearly. 

Rin ducked her head and started to grab the hem of her comforter. Her body tensing when another hand, much larger and clawed, grasped the other end and tugged them gently from her grasp.

“Go on,” Inuyasha muttered, and Rin glanced up at him. His gaze skillfully darting aside when she tried to meet his eye. Guilt ravaged her heart and she glanced down at her hands. Had he been offended by her tears? Or the lack of voicing where they’d come from? Bitterly, Rin thought: it wasn’t his fault that time hadn’t healed _her_ wounds after all.

Before Rin could think of a way to explain, the comforter was slid out from beneath her and she stumbled to climb off of it. Inuyasha gathered the thick fabric into his arms and began to fold it at the corners. The length of the comforter covered his face from view but his ears twitched atop his head. 

Without his eyes on her, Rin reminded herself to breathe and fiddled with the hem of her kosode as she slipped past. Inuyasha said nothing, and he seemed so taken with the task that Rin thought he wouldn’t notice her as she pushed the noren aside and stepped out. Yet with a glance stolen over her shoulder, a sliver of gold caught her eye just before the noren fell behind her. 

What did that mean, she wondered. Was he trying to give her a way out or maybe he didn’t want to talk anymore. But what was the point of folding her bedding and why did he look at her like that? Questions flooded Rin’s thoughts and drowned out the dull calling barely brushing the surface of her mind. Only when a light touch brushed against her shoulder did she tear her gaze away from the noren and toward Kaede. 

The old priestess gazed down at her worriedly. “Yer up early, child,” Kaede tilted her head, her fingers combing through thick sleep-mused locks in a futile attempt to neaten Rin’s hair. She appreciated each stroke and leant against Kaede’s side with a small smile. “I assume Inuyasha began to speak to ye.”

Rin nodded, a backward glance spared before she was led away from the door and toward the fire pit. Her cushion was set near Kaede’s and she knelt upon it with a soft sigh, taking a cup of tea as it was offered. The steam fanned across her nose and Rin took measured sips to mend her frayed nerves.

She knew that Kaede and Inuyasha had been talking about her to be exact, but she couldn’t quite piece together what it was they wanted. Mentions of learning how to punch made her wonder who she would need to fight. And Kaede’s sentiments left her gazing at the older priestess with a deeper degree of fondness. Then there was the slight daydream of her lord which left Rin with the consistent question: what did it all mean?

As if reading her mind, Kaede broke the silence and regarded her solemnly. “From today on, Rin, I’ll have need of ye outside of yer chores.”

Rin perked up and deflated all at once. She _did_ appreciate having the time outside of her chores to play with her friends, or explore new places around the village. “What for, Lady Kaede?”

“The incident with the foxbear,” Kaede began and Rin winced internally. Her discomfort must have shown on the outside because the crease deepened in Kaede’s forehead and she shook her head. “Nay, child. I haven’t called ye to scold or place blame. Merely an act of understanding on this foolish old woman’s part.”

“You aren’t foolish, Lady Kaede,” interjected Rin before another word could part Kaede’s lips. The outburst rendered them both silent but where she might have thought a scolding would come, only a quiet smile was given.

“Aye child, but age and perspective tends to lead one to forget. Allow me to recognize where it is I’ve fallen short.” 

Kaede picked up her own tea cup beside the small tray where another emptied cup sat upside down. She took a sip, then cradled it between her palms, closing her eye. Rin looked down to her own cup and sipped in solidarity, allowing the sweet taste to wash down the bitterness of her thoughts. It was an expensive blend if Kaede were to be believed and had come on the last visit from her lord. Perhaps, Rin thought, that is why she thought of him. 

“Now,” Kaede said as she began once more, deep shadows pronouncing the wrinkles in her face. “The incident with the foxbear reminds that while ye are safe within the village, elsewhere ye may not be.”

Rin thumbed the ridges of her teacup, her heart pounding. Kaede told her that she wasn’t in trouble for what happened but would she be confined to the village now? The woods were vast, and she was learning the trails better and better everyday. To be without that was unimaginable. 

Steeling her heart, Rin murmured. “What do you mean, Lady Kaede?”

Kaede gazed longingly into the flames and Rin craned her neck to one side, attempting to see what captivated the priestess. “An important part of knowing how to live is to defend yerself,” Kaede muttered, and Rin sighed softly, watching the light flicker in a wet brown eye. “What is most precious to ye isn’t always precious to others.”

There was a slight crack in Kaede’s voice, so gentle and soft that it could’ve been missed. Its timing falling in line with the kindling wood cracking and crumbling into the fire pit, its ashes joining others. Rin’s lower lip trembled and she clutched the bottom of her tea cup until the impression of its smooth rounded bottom pressed uncomfortably to her palm. 

Before either of them could say a word, the noren swung to one side, slapping against the doorway’s frame. Inuyasha stalked out of the backroom, golden eyes bright with the flames’ glow and some emotion that startled Rin into sitting upright. “What Kaede’s tryin’ to say with all those flowery words is that your life is at stake everytime you run off,” he said brusquely, tossing his head to one side as he bared a firm glower on Rin’s head. “And if you don’t know how to protect yourself, you’ll wind up dead.”

Rin’s breath hitched and Kaede gasped, turning away from the fire sharply. “ _Inuyasha_!”

“The kid’s died twice, she ain’t a pushover,” Inuyasha’s upper lip curled with a sneer as he turned his gaze to Kaede. “Just human.” Rin exhaled shakily and stared down at her cup, seeing her own stricken face in the tea’s rippling surface. “And she ain’t gonna be a kid forever.”

_Be that as it may, she can’t behave like this forever, m’lady._

Kaya’s desperate pleas had fallen on Kaede’s deaf ears but they resounded deeply within Rin’s chest. She wasn’t sure what it was that was wrong with the way she was now. Yes, she was young, but she was far from an idiot or naïve. 

_Don’t be so conceited. Lord Sesshomaru’s honor was challenged, he isn’t doing this for you._

“What happens when she grows up? Going with Sesshomaru, to another village, to hell knows where - who is gonna be lookin’ after her?”

_This is a chance for humanity to earn your trust._

Humanity. He’d said those words with such conviction but there was something else beneath it. Everyone talked about her growing up, what she should do, what the world would be like. A chance to choose. Rin braced her hands around the tea cup and soaked the warmth in her palms, trembling slightly. Her lord never told her to fight. He protected her and let her follow along as she was.

_Do what you want._

“If you don’t learn how to stand on your own two feet, what’s the point in havin’ them?” demanded Inuyasha, the floorboards creaking beneath his feet as he took a step forward. The red of his suikan ablaze in the fire’s copper glow and Rin slowly lifted her head, staring into golden eyes brighter than the sun. 

“ _Inuyasha_ ,” Kaede snapped, embers crackling and drifting up from the fire as her voice hardened. “That is enough.”

Rin loosened her hold on her cup, her mouth falling open. “I want to protect it…” She could feel Kaede’s questioning gaze, softened and firm at the same time. The old priestess was worried about her but there was no need. “The life Lord Sesshomaru saved… I want to protect it,” Rin insisted, steeling her voice to prevent it from wavering and cracking. Inuyasha’s eyes, although they were bright and sharp in their glower, there was softness to them. A misty sheen as if he were looking at her and not. Rin sighed, allowing her shoulders to fall and her hold on her cup to loosen further until the rim was no longer pressing into her palms. His eyes were just like her lord’s.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone to do that,” she said softly, noting how his eyes narrowed. “Not if I can do something different. Something that only _I_ can do.”

She’s protected people before with only her voice and her body as a shield. It may not have been the right thing to do in Jaken’s opinion or even her lord’s, but she believed it was. And that was all that mattered.

Inuyasha stared at her solemnly, tipping his head up. His eyes glowed as they were cast in shadows from beneath his bangs and she was sorely reminded of the forest and those hungry eyes watching her as she ran desperately. “... And what if you have to?”

Her lower lip quivered and from the corner of her eye, she could see Kaede’s head swiveling to look between them. She seemed unsure whether to let this continue on any longer. Just as she’d been when Kaya and Nishi came. But this time, Rin wasn’t hiding in the crawl space below her hut. She could speak for herself.

She set her tea cup on the wooden floorboards and balled her hands into fists, pressing them to her lap. “Then…” she trailed off as his eyes narrowed, and for a second, she could see the resemblance between them. It was almost as if her lord was staring down at her and waiting for her answer. The answer that she couldn’t give him that day, and one she couldn’t bring to voice when they met again.

_I’m alright. I’ll learn how to stand on my own._

“Then I’ll do what I have to in my own way.”

Inuyasha held her gaze for a moment longer. Only the crackling flames and their breaths filling the silence. Then, with a resigned puff of air exhaled through his nose, he turned his head away. “Jinenji…”

“Huh?”

He walked past, his sleeves fluttering with every sway of his arms, reminding her of reddened leaves fluttering on a crisp breeze. “Have you met a demon with big blue eyes, names Jinenji, he’s a farmer.”

Rin blinked at his back then thought about it. She didn’t remember anyone with big blue eyes but the name did seem familiar. “Yes…” she looked away from Inuyasha as he approached the hut’s door, looking toward Kaede instead. THere was solace found in the priestess’ nod and the inquisitive gleam in her eye. “He helped me awhile ago and gave me directions to find medicine for Master Jaken… when he was stung by wasps.”

She shuddered at the thought and how distraught Jaken had been, going so far to even begin bashing his head against a tree trunk. If her fingers had been a bit quicker and if she were a little bigger then perhaps he wouldn’t have had to go through such agony. 

“Naraku’s wasps?” Inuyasha asked, his ears perked and head turned to peek over his shoulder at her.

Kaede frowned. “Ye went by yerself, Rin?”

“Yes.” Rin ignored the disappointed look from Kaede, staring down at her hands instead. They were still small. How much could she truly hold in these hands? “Master Jaken needed help and Lord Sesshomaru was gone. I took A-Un with me, and found Jinenji… but he was going through his change and couldn’t come with me.” Her fingers trembled and she curled them into tight fists. How scared had Jaken been when he was on his own? Did he think she wouldn’t have come back? It had already gotten so late in the day at that time. He only had until sundown. And if she’d been a little faster.. More careful..

“I didn’t want to see anyone die anymore… especially not Master Jaken.”

A dull ache throbbed in her chest. She missed the little imp dearly. His heartfelt goodbye every time they visited and the way he would squeeze her so tight almost sprang tears in her eyes. Her sleeve caught on her fingertips and she rubbed at her eyes quickly, trying to stem their flow.

“Seeing as he’s still kicking, I’d say you did alright..” 

Rin sniffed, peeking up from her sleeve. Inuyasha had turned to face forward, and she couldn’t gauge how he felt from how his voice sounded. “I’ve been out that way, and the climb is steep… flowers don’t grow near the ground because of all the demons eating at them, so… you had to go a ways to get it..”

“Ye are lucky to have left with yer life, Rin,” Kaede agreed, not quite a scolding but the concern on her face made Rin’s insides warm and tinge with shame at the same time. 

She squeezed her hands into tight fists despite their trembling, meeting Kaede’s eye. “I couldn’t abandon Master Jaken,” Rin retorted, her voice pitching as the thought of his bulbous yellow eyes glassy and sightless. “I _won’t_ abandon Master Jaken.”

Kaede held her gaze for a while longer. The thin wisps of smoke rising and the stinging in Rin’s eyes dutifully ignored to keep the priestess’ gaze. She wouldn’t allow herself to be cowed into thinking that her actions were wrong. There was no time to wait for Jinenji, A-Un did all that they could, and Lord Sesshomaru couldn’t be found. She was tired, panicked, unarmed, but even if all she could do was cling to the craggy cliff face and reach for the small cluster of flowers inches from her reach on the ridge - she would.

Because Jaken needed her.

Kaede closed her eyes, then with a gentle smile, she looked to INuyasha and said, “Well, is that proof enough for ye?” 

Rin’s hackles dropped immediately and she looked between them confusedly. Inuyasha peeking over his shoulder at her then scoffing, jerking his head forward. 

“Hmph. Proof that staff is just for show, more like.”

Rin pursed her lips, pouting. Although Jaken didn’t use his staff very often, that didn’t mean it was for show. He took very good care of it and defended her with it multiple times. Her mouth opened, though before hse could volley words to defend Jaken’s honor, Inuyasha interjected with a soft sigh. “... You did good, kid. That imp owes you his life.” 

She blinked slowly, rethinking all of the times Jaken saved her or looked after her. He was grumpy, sure, and in the beginning it was only because Lord Sesshomaru would clobber him if he didn’t — but she appreciated every moment they spent together.

Rin shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said, smiling gently. “As long as Master Jaken is alive and well, that’s all that matters.”

Inuyasha’s face was half shrouded but when he turned his head, chin brushing shy of his shoulder, Rin noticed an upward tick of the corner of his lips. Barely registering it was a smile before it was gone and he’d slid open the door, stepping out into the night and closing it behind him without another word.

“I believe ye have a power all yer own, Rin.”

She looked to Kaede, surprised and confused. “Really?”

“Mm…” Kaede nodded solemnly, her smile sad as she stared at the door. “That’s the first time I’ve seen Inuyasha smile in many moons…”

Rin softened and stared down at her palms. “... I see… was that a smile?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t know why but…” Rin lifted her head, looking to Kaede, the squeezing in her chest brimming tears in her eyes. “That smile… it seemed so sad.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this was somewhat emotional to write but also - our first appearance of Inuyasha in Rin's story! Early on, I wasn't sure what the relationship was between these two. They have a lot of similarities to the point where they could be considered reflections of each other on opposite sides of the demon-human spectrum. Nevertheless, one of the strangest parts of being around Rin at least for Inuyasha is how closely she reminds him of Kagome - and vice versa for Rin with Sesshomaru. They may not notice it but Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are very alike, they just have different ways and extremes for what they do.
> 
> Anyhow, that's enough of me rambling! 
> 
> The next chapter hopefully won't take as long as this one. I'm getting back into my groove, so I'm happy to say that this is becoming easier to think about!
> 
> Anyway, if you'd like to check me out on other platforms then you can find me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Tapas at **unlockthelore**! 
> 
> Thank you so much for continuing to read and see you next time!


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